The Wordfence alternative that does not delay your protection
ReportedIP Hive blocks attacking IP addresses, runs an OWASP web application firewall and adds four two-factor methods. Every sensor ships in the free open-source core with no 30-day delay, and one Professional licence covers three sites at 4.97 euro each per month.
Wordfence is the best known security plugin in the WordPress world, and for a lot of sites it works. Two things send people looking for something else. The first is the licence model: Wordfence Premium is sold per single site, so an agency with fifteen client sites pays fifteen times. The second is the 30-day delay, new firewall rules and malware signatures go to paying customers first and reach free installations a month later, which means a free site stays open to attacks that are already known and already fixed.
ReportedIP Hive is built the other way round. All sixteen sensors, the firewall engine and the complete two-factor suite live in the open-source core and are free forever, with nothing held back. Paid plans add our managed servers on top: two-factor mail and SMS that actually get delivered, deeper firewall rule levels synced daily, higher API quotas and every site managed from one dashboard. This page sets the two side by side so you can judge whether a switch, or running both, makes sense.
Hive and Wordfence side by side
Factual comparison of the structural differences. Wordfence sets its own prices and feature scope and may change them, check their site for current numbers.
| Criterion | ReportedIP Hive | Wordfence |
|---|---|---|
| Price per protected domain | 4.97 euro a month on Professional (3 domains), 2.60 euro on Business (15 domains) | Around 8.30 euro a month, licensed per single site |
| Rules on the free tier | Nothing held back: every sensor, the firewall engine and the baseline ruleset ship in the free core, along with the registration rules, the lockdown switches and the readiness register | Firewall rules and malware signatures reach free users 30 days after paying customers |
| Threat source | Community reputation network, an IP that attacked another site arrives at yours already known, plus vendor rules | Vendor-written rules and signatures |
| Two-factor methods | Four in the core: authenticator app, e-mail, SMS and passkeys / security keys | Authenticator app, no managed mail or SMS delivery |
| 2FA delivery | Managed EU relay included: 500 mails and 25 SMS a month on Professional, no Twilio account needed | Not offered, codes depend on your own host’s mail |
| Multi-site management | One dashboard for every connected site, one settings policy, per-site overrides, drift detection (Business) | Wordfence Central, per-site licences |
| White-label | Quickstart, 2FA pages and mail templates carry your brand (Business) | Not available |
| Registration and sign-up rules | Prohibited usernames on a baseline of ten role names, e-mail allow or block rules, a sign-up rate limit of three per IP an hour, and an opt-in block for sign-ins against usernames that do not exist. Ten entries per list free, unlimited with regular expressions on Professional | Blocks the admin username at registration and can hide existing usernames, but has no e-mail rules and no per-IP sign-up rate limit |
| Turning off what you do not use | One screen for the REST API, XML-RPC and pingbacks, feeds, guest access to wp-admin, PHP execution in the uploads folder and the version fingerprints in the page source. Free on every plan | Some of it, spread across the login-security and firewall screens |
| Blocking a user account | Block an account without deleting it: it keeps its content but cannot sign in, use an application password or finish a password reset, and every session and trusted device drops at once. Users and sessions are listed and terminated from one screen (Business) | No account-level block and no session manager, IP blocking only |
| Malware file scanning | Not included, Hive is a blocking and authentication layer | Yes, server-side file scanning is a core Wordfence feature |
| Source code | Open source, GPL-2.0, auditable on GitHub | Free plugin is GPL, premium rules are proprietary |
| Hosting and jurisdiction | Germany and EU only, data-processing agreement available | United States |
Where Wordfence is still the better answer
Hive does not scan your files for malware. If your site has already been compromised, or file-integrity scanning is the reason you run a security plugin at all, Wordfence does something Hive does not, and the honest recommendation is to keep a scanner. The two layers do not conflict: Hive blocks and authenticates at the door, a scanner checks what is already inside.
Wordfence also has a far larger install base and a longer track record. If your requirement is a name your client already recognises, that is a real argument, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.
Switching takes about five minutes
Install Hive from the plugin directory or from GitHub and run the quickstart. It asks for the operating mode and, if you have one, your key, then switches on the recommendation for your plan, and it does not need an account to protect a single site. If you want the managed relay, higher quotas or multi-site management, create a free account, paste the access key and pick a plan.
Run both plugins in parallel for a week if you want a safety net. Hive works in report-only mode, so you can watch what it would have blocked before you let it block anything. Once you are satisfied, deactivate the other plugin or keep it purely for file scanning.
Frequently asked questions
Is ReportedIP Hive a replacement for Wordfence?
For most sites, yes. Hive covers the same ground that people install Wordfence for: it blocks attacking IP addresses, runs a web application firewall on the OWASP Core Rule Set, watches logins, comments and XML-RPC, and adds two-factor authentication. Where the two differ is what sits behind the plugin. Wordfence scores a request against rules its own team writes. Hive additionally asks a community reputation network whether the IP hitting you has already attacked other sites, so an attacker that starts on someone else’s site arrives at yours already known. What Hive deliberately does not do is server-side malware scanning of your files, so if file-integrity scanning is your main reason for running Wordfence, run both or keep a dedicated scanner.
Does Hive hold back protection to sell the paid plan?
No, and this is the clearest difference between the two products. Wordfence gives Premium customers new firewall rules and malware signatures first and releases them to free users 30 days later, which means free sites are knowingly exposed to known attacks for a month. Every Hive sensor, the firewall engine, the baseline ruleset and the complete two-factor suite ship in the free open-source core with no delay. Paid plans buy access to our managed servers: deeper rule levels synced daily, mail and SMS delivery for two-factor codes, higher API quotas and multi-site management. They never buy the protection itself.
What does 2FA cost with each product?
With Hive Professional, two-factor by e-mail and SMS is included: 500 mails and 25 SMS a month, sent through our EU relay with our own SPF, DKIM and DMARC reputation, so codes actually reach the inbox instead of your shared host’s spam folder. Wordfence includes TOTP-app two-factor but no mail relay and no SMS. WP 2FA Premium offers SMS, but you have to open and pay for your own Twilio account and manage the sender numbers yourself. If two-factor codes that reliably arrive are the point, that difference matters more than the licence price.
How much does switching cost me?
Hive Professional is 149 euro a year including VAT and covers three domains, which works out at 4.97 euro per domain a month. Wordfence Premium is licensed per single site, so three sites cost three licences. Business is 389 euro a year for fifteen domains, 2.60 euro each, and can be booked two to twenty times on one bill with a volume discount, which is how agencies cover up to 300 client sites. Every paid plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee, so a trial costs nothing but the time to install.
Where is my data processed?
In Germany. ReportedIP is operated by a German company on EU-only infrastructure, with a data-processing agreement available and EU sub-processors for mail and SMS delivery. Wordfence, Solid Security, MalCare and Patchstack are all US companies, which means a transatlantic transfer your legal team has to assess and document. If you work in the public sector, healthcare or finance, or simply want to keep the paperwork short, that is often the deciding factor.